Information and

Communication
Technology
Dr. Myat Myo Nwe Wai

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Types and components of the Computer
System

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 Hardware and Software
 What is Hardware ?
 Hardware is a general term for physical components that make up a computer
system: the keyboard, motherboard, mouse, monitor and so on. Hardware can be
either internal or external.
 What is Software ?
 Software is a general term for the programs (collection of instructions) that control
the computer system. There are two types of software: application and system.

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Application Software
 Application software
 Programs that allows the user to do specific tasks.
 Word Processor: is used to manipulated text document such as report. Some of the functions include :
 creating, editing, manipulating, saving the text.
 copy and past function
 Spell checker and thesaurus
 Importing photo/images into a structured page format
 Translation into other languages
 Spreadsheet : is used to organize and manipulate numerical data. Some of the functions include :
 Use of formulas to carry out calculations
 Ability to produce graphs
 Ability to do modeling and ‘what if’ calculations
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Cont.
 Database : is use to organize, manipulate and analysis data. Some of the functions
include :
 Ability to carry out queries on database data and produce a report (dbms)
 Add, delete and modify data in a table.
 Control and measuring software : is designed to allow a computer or microprocessor
to interface with sensors so that is possible to
 Measure physical quantities in the real world (such as temperature)
 Control applications ( such as chemical process) by comparing sensor data with
stored data and sending out signal to alter process parameter

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Cont.
 apps : is the type of software that run on mobile phones or
tablets . Common examples include :
 Video and game streaming , GPS (global positioning system),
camera facilities
 photo/video editing software :allows a user to manipulate
digital photographs/videos. Some of the functions include :
 Change brightness, contrast, color saturation/ rearranging, adding
and or moving section of video clips and/or audio clips
 graphic manipulation software : allows bitmap and vector
images to be change. Bitmap images are made up of pixels that
contain information about image brightness and colour. Vector
graphic editors operate lines, curves and text to alter the stored
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image as required.
System Software
System Software
Programs that allow the hardware to run properly and allow the user to communicate
with the computer
 Compilers is a computer program that translate a program written in a high level
language (Java, Python, Visual Basic, Fortran, C++, Algo)to machine code.
 Linkers is a computer program that takes one or more object files produce by the
compiler and combine them into a single program.
 Device Driver is a software that enables one or more computer devices to
communicate with computer’s operation system. Examples include : printer,
memory stick, mouse, cd driver and so on.
 Operation System is essentially software running in the background of a computer
system. Operation system allows input/output operation, user to communicate
with the computer, error handling, loading and running the programs, and
managing of the security such as user account.
 Utilities are software that has designed to carry out specific tasks on a computer.
They held to manage , maintain and control computer resources. Examples
include: antivirus , anti-spyware , backup of files, disk repair , file management,
security , screensaver , disk fragmenter.

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The Difference Between Hardware and
Software
 Computer hardware is the physical components that make up the computer
system. Hardware is useless without software to run on it.
 Software is instructions that tell computer hardware what to do. Software is
useless there is hardware to run it on.
 For a computer system to be useful it has to consist of both hardware and
software.

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Internal Computer Hardware
 Motherboard
 A Printed circuit board.
 Allows the processor and other computer hardware to
function and communicate each other
 Major function is ‘hub’ that other computer devices
connect to
 Contains nonconductive material, copper/aluminum
layer form the circuit between various components, and
several sockets and slots to connect the other
components.

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Cont.
 Video Card
 To send graphic information to a video display device such as a monitor/TV/ projector.
 Are usually made up of
 A processing unit, memory unit(RAM) , a cooling machine and connection to a display unit.
 Sound Card
 An intergrade circuit board to produce sounds that can be heard either through speakers
or headphones
 Allow to record sound input from a microphone connected to the computer to
manipulate sounds stored on a disk.
 Use two basic methods to translate digital data into analogue signals
 FM synthesis mimics different musical instruments according to built_in formulas
 Wavetabel synthesis relies on recordings of actual instruments to produce sound
 Internal hard disk drive/ Solid State Drive (HDD/SSD)
 magnetic in nature and are one of the main method for storing data, files (text, photo
and music and system/application software)
 Modern computers use newer storage system that make us of solid state drive.

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Cont.

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Main Components of the Computer
System
 Central Processing Unit (CPU )
 'brain' of the computer that carries out software
instructions.
 The Pentium processor made by Intel is an example of a
CPU.
 The speed of a CPU is measured in Hertz (Hz).
 Hertz = the number of actions the CPU can perform every
second.
 1 Megahertz (MHz) is 1,000,000 (1 million) Hertz
 1 Gigahertz (GHz) is 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) Hertz

 The modern fast CPU runs at around 2.8GHz. That means it

can perform almost 3 billion actions every second!

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Main Memory
 Any data or instructions that are to be processed by the CPU must be placed
into main memory (sometimes known as primary storage).

 Random Access Memory(RAM)

 Temporarily store data when running applications.
 Can read from and written to
 Lost contents when power to the computer is turned off
 A volatile of temporary memory
 When a computer is in use, its RAM will contain…
 The operating system software
 The application software currently being used
 Any data that is being processed

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 Cont.
 The storage capacity of memory is measured in Bytes. Usually, Usually RAM can hold millions of bytes
of data:
 Megabytes (MB) or 1,000,000 (1 million) Bytes
 Gigabytes (GB) or 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) Bytes
 So, if a computer has 2GB of RAM, it can hold 2 billion bytes of data and instructions at any time.
 Read Only Memory(ROM)
 used in most computers to hold a small, special piece of software: the 'boot up' program.
 This 'boot up' software is known as the BIOS (Basic Input Output System)
 This software runs when the computer is switched on or 'boots up'. The software checks the computer’s hardware and then
loads the operating system.
 BIOS stores the date ,time and system configuration in nonvolatile chip called CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductor) .

 Store information that needs to be permanent.

 Cannot be altered and can only be read from
 Is not lost even when the computer is turned off
 Non volatile memories
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Peripheral Devices
 input devices, output devices and storage devices.
 What Are Input Devices?
 Devices that pass data into the computer are known as input devices :
( A keyboard, a mouse and a webcam)
 They all take information from the outside world
(key presses, hand movements, images), convert them into data and then send
this data into the computer for processing.
 What Are Output Devices?
 Devices that take data from the computer are known as output devices :A monitor, a printer and a loudspeaker.
 They all take information from the computer and convert it into real world things
(images, paper hardcopy, sound).
 What is Secondary / Backing Storage?
 Secondary storage (backing storage) is the name for all of the devices (apart from ROM and RAM) that
can store data in a computer system.
 Some examples are a hard drive, a CD-ROM, a floppy disc and a USB memory stick.
 non-volatile, so data that is stored on these devices remains there safely.

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What is Operation Systems ?
An operating system is a special piece of software that manages the general
operation of a computer system:
It provides a user interface so that we can interact with the computer
 It manages applications that are running on the computer, starting them when the
user requests, and stopping them when they are no longer needed
 It manages files, helping us save our work, organize our files, find files that we
have saved and load files
 It manages the computers memory, deciding what should be loaded into memory
and what should be removed
 It looks after computer security, preventing unauthorized access to the system
 It manages the computer’s input and output hardware such as printers, etc.

 Without an operating system, a computer is of little use.

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User Interface
 The system that people use to interact with a computer (to give it
commands, to see the results of those commands, etc.) is known as the user
interface. There are two that you need to be aware of:
 Graphical User Interface (GUI)
 Command-Line Interface (CLI)
 What is Graphical User Interface (GUI) ?
A GUI is an interface built around visual (graphical) things:
 Windows are regions of the screen used to display information
 Icons are small pictures that are used to represent folders, software, etc.
 Menus are lists of options the user can select from
 A pointer is an arrow that can be moved around the screen and is used to select
things.
 Windows XP is an example of an operating system with a GUI.
 A Nwe
Myat Myo GUIWai is sometimes called a WIMP interface:(Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer)
Cont.
 What is Command Line Interface (CLI) ?
 Many years ago when computers were not very powerful , the only interface available to most
computer uses was the ‘command line’.
 A user requires to type in instructions to choose options from menus, open software and so on.
 There are often a number of commands that need to be typed in, for example, to save or load
a file.
 The user has to learn a number of commands to carry out basic operations
 The advantage of CLI is that the use is in direct communication with the computer and is not
restricted to a number of predetermined options.

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Differences between CLI and GUI

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 Thank You

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